WootBot

This is the first time we've changed shirt suppliers since we launched in 2007, and we wouldn't have made a switch like this without some major reasons for it. For one thing, we really like the combination of stability and flexibility that going with Anvil provides. They've been in business for 150 years, so we're confident they know how to handle any challenge we throw at them.

It's part of our never-ending effort to make sure we've got the best options available for providing you, the teeming throngs of shirt-buying Internet types, shirts with pictures of cute fuzzy things on them. Peep the deets:

Quality
We couldn't make a change like this if it didn't maintain the high quality we pride ourselves on and you guys have come to know us for. We're still going to have shirts made of fine 100% combed, ring-spun cotton. Just like our current shirt, the new blanks will have a ribbed collar, taped shoulder seams, and double needle hems. The new shirts will weigh in at 4.5 oz. as opposed to our current 4.3 oz.

Sizing
The roughly 80% of you who buy shirts in Men's sizes shouldn't notice any real change in the sizing of our shirts; they'll run barely 3/8" shorter, so unless you're right on that bubble you should be fine.

However, if you've been buying (or wishing you could buy) ladies' sizes, you'll notice some changes that hopefully will make the shirts seem more, y'know, built for ladies. Check our new, updated sizing chart (which we'll be posting very often until the news finally works its way through to everyone) and find out where you stand.

Corporate Responsibility
As their exhaustive and frank Corporate Social Responsibility progress report shows, Anvil holds itself to high environmental and labor standards. We realize the fact that they're made in Honduras will set off red flags for some people - honestly, we weren't sure about that ourselves at first. But with a 77% unionized workforce and 100% WRAP-certified factories, we're comfortable Anvil is serious about treating its workers decently.

Cost
Of course, cost is a factor, too. For a long time, we ran on thin margins that didn't leave us much room to experiment. Now we can continue expanding our selection and taking chances on different kinds of products that we may not have been able to try before. As we get more efficient, we'll roll out some new ideas that will make Shirt.Woot more fun for our community and our customers.

Transition
This change will not be instantaneous. We have a large inventory of our previous suppliers' shirt and we don't want to just dump them in the river (turns out there's a hefty fine) so we'll sell them off and replace them as we run dry.

We'll make it very clear when your size switches to the new version so you can anticipate the change, and we'll post another update when we're completely switched over. Be sure to check the specs for the next few weeks as we'll be updating the sizing charts to reflect the change. And before you get all "eggs in one basket" on us, Anvil is joining the network of distributors, not replacing them all. We'll maintain our current relationships with companies for stuff like our hoodies, longsleeve tees, aprons, etc.

We're sure you have questions and opinions about this - let 'em rip in the forum and we'll do our best to answer them. But as for us, we're excited to stride sleeve-in-sleeve with Anvil toward the glorious Shirt.Woot future.

TobiasAmaranth

[s]An extra ounce may not sound like much but it's a 28% increase in weight. I like how light the AA shirts are, and I have a sneaking feeling that I will notice the moderate change in weight by the end of the day, so to speak.[/s] (Apparently, 3.5 was meant to be 4.3...)

Also, your post still doesn't explain why this change was even necessary.

Woot's Men's Smalls: A speck on a shirt that might be art. Don't bother...

llandar

TobiasAmaranth wrote:An extra ounce may not sound like much but it's a 28% increase in weight. I like how light the AA shirts are, and I have a sneaking feeling that I will notice the moderate change in weight by the end of the day, so to speak.

Also, your post still doesn't explain why this change was even necessary.

novastarj

TobiasAmaranth wrote:An extra ounce may not sound like much but it's a 28% increase in weight. I like how light the AA shirts are, and I have a sneaking feeling that I will notice the moderate change in weight by the end of the day, so to speak.

Also, your post still doesn't explain why this change was even necessary.

Gotta read between the lines. It's all about cost. The "thin margins" tells the whole story.

They might state some ancillary reasons also (such as better fitting women's sizes), but in the end it's all about the money. A damn shame only a month after already raising the price.

thumperchick

Sorry guys, while the product may still be good, I'm going to be hard-pressed to spend my cash here. Part of the appeal for me was supporting ethical, home-grown jobs for Americans.

BTW - you may want to update your FAQ, it is no longer true.

"Woot Tees are 100% cotton blank shirts. The designs are printed at Woot’s own printing facility in our Carrollton, Texas headquarters. Although the people who make them do sweat occasionally, Woot Tees are produced in sweatshop-free conditions. And they’re made in the USA, from the first stitch to the last drop of ink."

jbhswim

Ugh woot! You guys dropped the ball. Using imported blanks and changing everything that was good and groovy here at woot!We had something great going...until the price increase, then I adjusted.. but now this!

The blank t-shirt is the backbone of your business. It's not like you're going to start selling 5,000 hoodies in a day. People buy the shirts because they are made in the USA, they're cozy, and they fit right.

Plus, aren't you getting the extra two dollars to help take care of extra costs incurred by the AA blanks?

mrwednesday

So the short version is that you're outsourcing your blanks so that you can fund pet projects that operate at a loss because they aren't popular enough to be sustainable? And you're doing all of this at the expense of your core business and values?

I am completely serious when I say please point me to the part of this decision that makes sense.....

tgentry

ProfHotpants wrote:The chest fit is identical to our current Men's blanks, and the length change is less than 1/2 inch. These blanks actually shrink less than our previous ones.

ProfHotpants has been singing the praises of Anvil tees since before we even knew we were making a switch, especially the women's sizes. I found the Men's sizes to be pretty comparable to AA in terms of quality and size and didn't notice much if any difference (I'm about 5'9" of that helps any). The fact that they weren't made in America was a big deal to all of us, but a lot of things went into the decision and it definitely wasn't taken lightly.

tgentry

mrwednesday wrote:So the short version is that you're outsourcing your blanks so that you can fund pet projects that operate at a loss because they aren't popular enough to be sustainable? And you're doing all of this at the expense of your core business and values?

polluxoil

Yeah, I'm not sure I agree with this. I just bought It Came Out of Nowhere and I think that may be the last shirt I purchase from woot. However, I still want to support the artists I've grown to love so I guess I'm going to start stalking their private pages now!

ramyb

ProfHotpants wrote:The chest fit is identical to our current Men's blanks, and the length change is less than 1/2 inch. These blanks actually shrink less than our previous ones.

The measurements may be similar, but the fit definitely isn't the same. This is an unfortunate change from my end- even if the length change is minor, it definitely makes the fit significantly worse for me considering I usually wear a medium at 6'3- and on top of that, I find anvil shirts to be wide in the wrong places, as well as being a little heavier than I like- I will probably still buy shirts I really want, but will probably wear them much less often and will have to think a little longer when I'm on the fence. Sigh.

miyoshinum5

I really don't think Anvil shirts even compare to AA shirts quality. Any Anvil shirts that I've had loose their elasticity and begin to look old much faster than any of my woot shirt. I'm very disappointed with this switch, most of the reason I could justify spending what little money I have on woot shirts is the high quality.

nmpls

ramyb wrote:The measurements may be similar, but the fit definitely isn't the same. This is an unfortunate change from my end- even if the length change is minor, it definitely makes the fit significantly worse for me considering I usually wear a medium at 6'3- and on top of that, I find anvil shirts to be wide in the wrong places, as well as being a little heavier than I like- I will probably still buy shirts I really want, but will probably wear them much less often and will have to think a little longer when I'm on the fence. Sigh.

This is probably me, though a bit taller and quite a bit fatter.
It is hard to describe for me, but generally it is in the way the sleeve is cut, makes them fit weird.
----
Woot, this sucks, you're ruining the only internet t-shirts that fit me perfectly.
Maybe this will be good for my love and social life and certainly my wallet, but will I be happy?

bluejester

Here's a few more questions for you guys, as it seems woot staff is monitoring the thread in anticpation of an outcry:

So, from what I'm reading about the WRAP stuff, there's an implication that the ANVIL brand has some sort of working conditions standard that they hold to. Am I then to believe that AA was not up to some sort of standard?

Furthermore, it's mentioned "For one thing, we really like the combination of stability and flexibility that going with Anvil provides," I interpret this to mean that due to the recent financial difficulties of AA that stability might have been an issue. So, because woot was worried that AA might 'cash in it's chips' they decided to terminate their business relationship with them. Is this correct extrapolation, and if so could you expound on why? I am lost as to why after years of a good working relationship with AA that woot would leave them to hang in the wind. I'm not trying to be mean here, just frustrated to see that you guys are no longer using an American company.

badlass

I asked via email but I'm wondering about reckoning shirts. I bought one a few hours before midnight and now wondering if I'm going to get the old blanks or the new blanks. I'm sure other folks are wondering too. Thanks!

taternuggets

badlass wrote:I asked via email but I'm wondering about reckoning shirts. I bought one a few hours before midnight and now wondering if I'm going to get the old blanks or the new blanks. I'm sure other folks are wondering too. Thanks!

"Transition
This change will not be instantaneous. We have a large inventory of our previous suppliers' shirt and we don't want to just dump them in the river (turns out there's a hefty fine) so we'll sell them off and replace them as we run dry."

ramyb

bluejester wrote:Here's a few more questions for you guys, as it seems woot staff is monitoring the thread in anticpation of an outcry:

So, from what I'm reading about the WRAP stuff, there's an implication that the ANVIL brand has some sort of working conditions standard that they hold to. Am I then to believe that AA was not up to some sort of standard?

Furthermore, it's mentioned "For one thing, we really like the combination of stability and flexibility that going with Anvil provides," I interpret this to mean that due to the recent financial difficulties of AA that stability might have been an issue. So, because woot was worried that AA might 'cash in it's chips' they decided to terminate their business relationship with them. Is this correct extrapolation, and if so could you expound on why? I am lost as to why after years of a good working relationship with AA that woot would leave them to hang in the wind. I'm not trying to be mean here, just frustrated to see that you guys are no longer using an American company.

I'm not sure if this is related, but at least with the flexibility point, I wonder if this has to do with woot's commitment to certain shirt colors- With AA, I assume woot was ordering absolutely obscene numbers of blanks at a time in order to get a price cheap enough to sell at 10 (or 12) with free shipping. With Anvil, they can probably order lower numbers at a time, giving the option of changing up the shirt color choices whenever.

ProfHotpants

ramyb wrote:The measurements may be similar, but the fit definitely isn't the same. This is an unfortunate change from my end- even if the length change is minor, it definitely makes the fit significantly worse for me considering I usually wear a medium at 6'3- and on top of that, I find anvil shirts to be wide in the wrong places, as well as being a little heavier than I like- I will probably still buy shirts I really want, but will probably wear them much less often and will have to think a little longer when I'm on the fence. Sigh.

It's possible you've worn a different style Anvil shirt. They're not all the same. I promise the guys blanks are very nearly identically the blanks you're used to. Seriously, the only difference is the 3/8th inch, which I think is more than made up for because they shrink less.

I won't lie to you, when we did our massive round of in house testing there were some folks who preferred the old blanks to the new ones. But the split was pretty even, with most people feeling they were about the same.

I LOVE the women's blanks. I have had the same 5 women's Anvil blanks for three years. They're all different colors, so they're from different batches and they have held up beautifully. They are comfy, the fit is flattering, and the shirts haven't faded, twisted or fallen apart. They look like new. I am really thrilled with the new women's blanks.

computermd82

As someone that owns 25+ Woot shirts (duplicates included), I'm sorry to see the change. I'm not entirely opposed to different blanks being used, it's all about quality. I *used* to buy from Threadless, but the shirts are now so poor in quality that I've had to stop shopping there, even if it's a design I really wanted.

So here's hoping these new blanks are of good quality. Any way to buy one (any color) to compare?

To me the best thing about the AA shirts were the softness and breathability, without being too thin, and that they were made in the USA.

On the flipside I found the AA shirts to shrink a bit, I would have to buy XL's if I wanted to end up with L's after a few washes.

In the end I'll wait and see, but I really with the new supplier was US based..

"And the man in the rain picked up his bag of secrets, and journeyed up the mountainside, far above the clouds. And nothing was ever heard from him again, except for the sound of Tubular Bells."

gina3graces

Woot, you do whatever you need to do to survive and excel in these economically tough times; just sayin' that lovers gonna love and that is EXACTLY what I am; a lover of all things Woot.
Of course you're in business to succeed and I'm here to play my very small role in helping you to achieve that. Woot, you might as well know...I've got a crush on you.

mrwednesday

Read the cost statement. There's not much to infer. Razer margins are thin yes,but has shirt woot ever operated as anything but a bulk business? It says quite clearly you need the extra margin from a cheaper blank to afford other stuff. Now I could see maybe needing some capital to start something like that but what is Amazon for? It tells me you want to provide totes and long sleeves but you can't afford to do it because there is no margin so you have to get that money elsewhere as in your new larger margins.

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